A gossip goes around telling secrets, but those who are trustworthy can keep a confidence. | One who brings gossip betrays a confidence, but one who is of a trustworthy spirit is one who keeps a secret. |
So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?” | So that with good courage we say, “The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me?” |
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For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. | For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end. |
It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in people. | It is better to take refuge in Yahweh, than to put confidence in man. |
Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him. | Beloved, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have boldness toward God; so whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. |
And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. | This is the boldness which we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us. |
And now, dear children, remain in fellowship with Christ so that when he returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from him in shame. | Now, little children, remain in him, that when he appears, we may have boldness and not be ashamed before him at his coming. |
So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. | Let’s therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace for help in time of need. |
Don’t envy violent people or copy their ways. Such wicked people are detestable to the Lord, but he offers his friendship to the godly. | Don’t envy the man of violence. Choose none of his ways. For the perverse is an abomination to Yahweh, but his friendship is with the upright. |
I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. | That their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ. |
But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit. | Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh, and whose confidence is in Yahweh. For he will be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green, and will not be concerned in the year of drought. It won’t cease from yielding fruit. |
Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see. | Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen. |
Enjoy prosperity while you can, but when hard times strike, realize that both come from God. Remember that nothing is certain in this life. | In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; yes, God has made the one side by side with the other, to the end that man should not find out anything after him. |